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In most games, and on the Internet in general, my official alias is RJCombo ™. However, on the Rallos Zek server in the world of EverQuest, I'm known as Kelton Lightforge, Dwarven Cleric of Brell Serilis. There are close to 200,000 other people who have their own little alter-ego(s) in Verant Interactive's smash hit Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG). Try saying that three times fast.
What makes MMORPGs so unique among gaming platforms is the community. Because the game world is so vast and the interaction heavily integrated, even a short session will entail crossing paths with many other players, and in the long run you make some good friends during your journeys. However, these Norrathians are still limited in their interaction, as you don't really meet the people BEHIND the characters.
This is how the idea of the EverQuest Gathering was conceived. Kevin Scott, die-hard EverQuest player and resident of the Los Angeles area, organized the first event last autum as a picnic. Even some of the Verant employees, who are stationed in San Diego, managed to attend. The success of the event led to a poll to determine where the "sequel" would be held, with St. Louis becoming the overwhelming favorite. This 2nd event was primarily organized by Cindy , who's last name now escapes me, nor appears on the EQ Gathering II site (sorry Cindy). With an increasing number of reservations, Verant eventually decided to recognize the event, providing sponsorship and sending several representatives to attend.
Anyway, it just so happens that yours truly lives less than 30 minutes from the Embassy Suites hotel, the site of the EverQuest Gathering II. So this past Saturday, Ian "El Phisto" Lantz (Myutin Windmaker, Druid on Rallos Zek) and myself hopped in the Buick and trekked to Laclede's Landing in downtown St. Louis for the event.
KICKOFF
The festivities kicked off at about 9:30am, with MC Kevin Scott welcoming the crowd, previewing the day's schedule, introducing the Verant representatives, and finally encouraging everyone to mingle. There was quite a motley crew in the house, both in age and appearance, and some of the die-hards even showed up in costume. A trio of friends brought poles with their names attached at the top, even bringing an extra pole for Brad McQuaid. As one might expect, the (about) 200 attendees were a little hesitant for a couple minutes, but as they sought out others who play on their respective servers, the camaraderie quickly became evident.
From Verant, producer Brad McQuaid, Andy Sites, Mike Hutchins, Bill Trost, Geoff Zatkin, and a couple others were on hand to demonstrate the new expansion pack, Ruins of Kunark and chat with the attendees.
"The Everlore Crew - EverQuest is their bitch."
The guys from Everlore were on hand with a web cam that was sending still frames of the event to their homepage throughout the day. They also had a video camera and grabbed about an hour's worth of footage, including an interview with one of the Verant reps. The footage should be available on their site next week.
Also present was artist Nick Kremenek, who created the official artwork for both EQ Gathering events. The logo he designed was printed on the free T-shirt, as well as on posters and mouspads that were for sale at his booth. Nick also worked on some impresive new material as the day progessed. Very talented guy… you can check out more of his stuff at DreamForger
next>> The Demo
Table of Contents:
Introduction | The Demo | Q/A with Verant
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